Bitcoin Forum

We have a lot of potentially valuable members who are receiving negative comments because english isn't their first language. I thought that, rather than calling them names and penalising them, it would be better if we could provide some advice to help them improve their english posting. I've started this thread to see if I, and some other members who have english as their first language, can provide this help.

This thread is self-moderating, and I will have to make a few rules to ensure that it remains useful.

- All posts must be about Bitcoin, Bitcoin price movements, and its place in the world economy.
- Posts about alt coins, bounties and other topics so beloved of the sig spammers will be deleted.
- Please don't give advice about the structure and content of a post if english isn't your first language.
- This thread is text only, so no fancy formatting or embedded graphics please.

Obviously your command of english isn't a barrier to posting in this thread, but please do the best you can to help us to understand the content of your post.

So lets go for it - post a comment, or ask a question

A couple off the top of my head:

Format
Walls of text are offputting, pertinent points get lost. Space is free.

Punctuate
Learn the basics; capitalization at the beginning of sentences.

Edit
Read back your draft to yourself thru a reader's eyes or to someone else, before posting.

Don't call people "Sir". We have a big, egalitarian society here /s

/s means that the preceding was sarcastic.

Thanks for contributing, and you will see that I edited your quote. I really dislike emboldened text, it makes it harder to speed scan a post.

The other pointis that space is not free, it's paid for by your readers, and there will always be some who don't want to pay. However the point is valid at it's basic level. A daunting block of text will put off a reader, and he will skip to the next post. So splitting your post into paragraphs is helpful, adding bold text headings is really annoying, and it's one of the reasons I put some posters on ignore.

I had hoped that this thread would focus more on sentence content rather than post structure. Also, I think it would be useful to make it a practice and advice thread, as there are already numerous threads about the ways to structure and format posts

English is my second language and it needs improvement, for sure.
What really helps me these days is reading through the forum posts, learning from more experienced forum writers. Also thinking more before posting works wonders for me.
Do you have some favourite reading material about crypto in general?
Thanks for reaching out to us

Thanks for supporting this thread. I decided that the first member to post here for review would be awarded a merit, and I have given it to you.

I read your post, and I was able to understand it without having to slow down or pause. We have so many variations of english that are used on the boards, that I think it would not be possible to reach agreement on a standard. The most important criterion is easy comprehension by most members, and I think your post achieves that - congratulations.

Here i am....im trying to improve my english.
Watch TV series with ENG subtitles...you think is a good way to improve own english?

Another question, have i make some mistake?

Spelling in English can be tricky.
I think that one of the best ways for improving posts of non-native English speaker, is to install additional dictionary plug-in for a browser.
Super simple and very effective way. Unfortunately it won't be much help with grammar, that's for additional extensions to take care of.
Still, with correct spelling even broken grammar won't affect the core of ones massage. It might be obvious to most but IMO worth to mention.

How about listing the best language tools/extensions for browsers?
Never tried any of those (although I should), is it worth the hassle?

BTW this thread is a great idea.

You caught me just before I'm off for the night. This is the way I would have written that post, but it is understandable.

Here I am, and I'm trying to improve my english by watching TV series with english subtitles. Do you think this is a good way to improve my english?
Can I ask another question - have I made any mistakes?

My comment - reading the subtitles can help you improve your english, but it depends on the ability of the translator. Watching English TV programmes can be good if you can follow the dialogue, but watch out for regional variations. Another good trick if you can get hold of an english newspaper, is to try to complete the crossword puzzle that many include.

Some time ago, one member of this forum told me that my English is barely above minimum for understanding. That was hard blow for me, because I thought that my skill of speaking and writing it, is average and understandable. That made me think, and I came to a conclusion that improving is important no matter how much you think you know. Also, what helped me a lot in improving my posts, was reading them before posting.

I really like the idea of this topic, and I know how hard it can be for people for whom English is secondary language. Opinion of native English speakers is really important. But more important is, personal will and desire for improvement.

@Jet Cash, sorry it was not about Bitcoin like you said in OP, but I needed your opinion.

Sometimes the difficult thing about talking in a new language isn't the language itself, but how you think about it
Talk to yourself
Use a mirror
Focus on fluency, not grammar
Try some tongue twisters
Listen and repeat
Pay attention to stressed sounds
Sing along to English songs

Hope it will help..

Most of the users here were not the native speakers of English. Majority have English as the second language, so continued working is a must to improve ourselves and become proficient in the language which is much required to be an active user of the forum.

hi.. i just want to know your opinion about the price of the Bitcoin  10 years from now?. anything advice from you. will the bitcoin improve more?. and what do you think is it?. . cause. base on your experience.  you have. a lot of  info campare to others.. your name is familiar to other users they tell that your one of the most active member here. talk about speculate, you can share.Do you think it is ok for now to invest in bitcoin.  even the price is too high?.   or find another?.sorry for my english. i want to improve about it.  cause its not my first language.

Users can add Grammarly chrome extension (its free) in order to check the grammar and correct it where ever it is needed.
Sometimes it shows wrong corrections, but 95% of the time it is right in my opinion.

But at the end, we will be able to see some quality posts from those posters who has grammar problem.

Thanks for posting that, and it raises some interesting issues.
[hi..]
It's the first word of a sentence, so the "H" should be capitalised, however, this is a forum post and not a PM, so I don't think I would have started the post with it.
I'm assuming that this post ws intended to be included in a discussion thread, and if that is so, then that comment, although itis flattering, is not really relevant to the topic, unless you are targetting a specific member. In this case you should prefix the comment with a prompt for him to reply, you can do this  with an entry such as @dmonrey002 .


I would have written - I apologise for my english. It is not my first language, but I hope to improve this by reading the threads on Bitcoin Talk ( a bit of grovelling never hurts ).

With regard to the min question, I would flesh it out a bit -

The price of Bitcoin has been fairly volatile recently, and it looks as if it may still be in a bear trend. I am a long term holder of Bitcoin, and I would be grateful for opinions on its value in 10 years time. If you believe that it's value will increase significantly, do you think that now is the time to buy, or should I wait for a positve break through the current resistance level.

Here is a surprise for some of you. I gave a merit to each of the posters who asked for comments on their post. This was a thank you for taking part in a project to improve the quality of Bitcoin Talk.

This is a one off, and it will not be repeated.

Jet Cash You have actually provide a valuable presentation and seriously i appreciate what you do. Is really annoying when people comments post with shitty remark it makes the person feels bad so why not just correct him and he may actually feel encourage to write better and also learn better..With You and Others providing such guide things are going to change for sure here. I will make sure to follow your guide and all others that provided help here..Thank you guys

This is a good thread Sir jet Cash, I'm pretty sure that many users out there (including me) will learn here some of the tips on effective English speaking/writing.

Though English is not my mother tongue, I can confidently say that I'm not too bad but not also too good in this, maybe just between the middle. Honestly, English language serves as a form of communication barrier for me before simply because that's a foreign language — a language that I'm not well familiar with. But with my eagerness to learn, I study hard and push myself to adapt. Here are some of my tips for improving your English communication skills.

1. Be a bookworm. Always read any kind of literature using English language whether it is  a simple pamplet or a novel because it will develop your vocabulary.

2. Watch English movies frequently. Doing this will improve your comprehension skills and will enhance the way you pronounce by mimicking the dialogue of the actor/actress.

3. Always write. Don't push yourself to write a series of paragraphs at first, just start in simple thoughts and try to express it in a sentence. Then if you think you become better, try now constructing paragraphs or short stories. Doing these will enhance your technical writing skills, grammar and even your style of writing.

I hope my tips help you a lot.

Several essential components which form a good thread are:

Topic sentences: which states about writers' main ideas.
Detailed sentences: which should expand main ideas as logical as possible.
Linking words: which help to make threads more smoothly, and improve coherence.
Vocabularies: of course, writers should use as appropriate vocabularies as possible.

To sum up, writers should have good topic sentences, and avoid making distractions during their threads; focus on their main ideas instead.

My experiences, maybe it'll useful for someone:
- Have learnt basic English, and read comments in this forum.
- Don't translate your language to English word by word, i make this mistake a lot when i first joined Bct forum.
- If you have an uncertainly words or phrase (You've learnt new words and want to put it together), try searching it on google first, if there are not result matching > you was wrong, find that word in oxforddictionaries.com to know how to use it.
And the most important: learn about Collocations in English to know how to matching words, also you'll improve your Vocabulary, Grammar quickly.
(English is my second language, maybe i don't write grammar correctly  ;D)

Thanks Jetcash
This is very good and constructive lead. I am very  happy that  instead of calling names you decided to help.

Below are the points I take care while posting:
1. Words that are underlined with red line : I correct them, just right click them,Google automatically provide suggestions of correct spelling.
2. Read my post again before clicking "Post" :  While reading the post again sometimes I got the idea that particular sentence is not clearly mentioning the idea that I want to convey. I re-frame these sentences.
Even English is not our native language but these  checks at least  improve the communication.

For improving English I am more interested in reading books and newspaper (that can vastly increases the vocabulary.)
If not sure of exact meaning of a word, then better to check in dictionary rather than assuming meaning.

Note: It is very important  to learn correct because "unlearning"  is much more difficult than learning.

If you focus on fluency instead of grammar then you will end up with gibberish. Once you got basics and vocabulary then fluency will automatically follow. Tongue Twisters are for improving the pronunciations they are no help in improving written English.


I am in complete agreement with your tips.

I'm a native English speaker and I'll do what I can to help in the thread to improve other's mastery of this wonderful language.  First of all I'd like to complement everyone who is trying to master English, especially writing it.  It's (a contraction of the word it and is, contractions are used all the time when writing and speaking English) a very interesting language in that it picks up words and phrases from many other languages with ease and incorporates them into English, they become part of the lexicon.  

English has a lot in common with some languages.  In Spanish and English, for example, about 25% of the words are identical (including identical!).  For other languages there is nothing in common and that makes it much more difficult to process.  I would say for anyone who is studying it and working at learning it, good for you and don't get discouraged, just plug away at it and as time passes and one practices the improvements will come.

I went ahead and selected the above quoted post and will edit it below, hope this helps and will check out the thread a couple of times a week and try to make some suggestions.

"Most of the users here are not native speakers of English.  The majority have English as a second language, so continued working at it is a must to improve ourselves and to become proficient in the language which is almost required to be an active user of the forum."  

Instead of keeping much required I changed it to almost required.  I think what the OP was saying is that to be an active user it's a great benefit to be able to communicate clearly and correctly in English.  It's always tricky in trying to correct other's writings to try and keep the original meaning while using the correct grammar and syntax.

Good luck with the studies!

Hi again Mr. Jet Cash.  thank you for make some correction about my comment on your thread. Also thank you for the tips and advice that you give about  what will be the price of bitcoin after 10 years from now. Hope some user reading this thread help them and give some idea about bitcoin market.  Goodluck for investing. 

What about Hard fork?.  do you think it can affect the original protocol or the market of the oginal coin if the hard fork has a problem when it release?.  Or it's okay to have a problem as long as it will not be supported by the people?

I think it would be better to ask that question on one of the discussion boards. You will probably get replies from members with more knowledge than I have. :)

Are you a native speaker Jet Cash? And if not can you let me know that how long have u been studied, can u give some effective way or some of your materials to learn English?

I'm English born and educated, and I have a received English accent.

Unfortunately my English has been corrupted by the Internet. :)

To further tackle the issue - having been there once - if anybody needs help with their posts, or someone to review them, feel free to contact me

I'm a native Germen and have studied English for 6 years at the University of Augsburg, eventually becoming a teacher (Sports/English).

So if anybody wants someone to look over their post, just PM me - don't worry it is completely free. I ve been at rock bottom once and do know how the language barrier can be an immense obstacle - therefore it is enjoyable for me to help others - which is why I became a teacher after all.

Only requirements : Pls make an effort to at least get the point across, I cannot create your post for you from zero. Also keep it at a reasonable length.

I'm mostly online from 9-12am MET.

Cheers and no need to feel ashamed!  ;)

English is not my native language, and I can tell to everyone out loud that beyond being a English - Filipino translator, I admit, sometimes but not too often, my English grammar/post aren't that much correct. However, it doesn't stop me from being a translator but rather I take it a challenge to help myself to become a much better English speaker. And I think I'm doing much better now, still kindly judge me! :D But my point is, this thread might help members but just those who are interested enough only. You and other members whose native language is English can't totally help them if they are not helping their own selves. But maybe this thread can encourage them to help themselves become a good poster, now that they already knew a native English speaker would help them broaden their English grammar and vocabulary, FOR FREE! And since most techniques and advice's are already been said above, I don't want to add more to make redundancies.

I knew this post is not about bitcoin or stuffs related to it but I guess my post is not much irrelevant to what you wanted to see, right? I hope so!  ;D
And would you mind if I try to share the link of your post to our local board, just to let them know about this thread you created since not all of them would be aware, and because I want most of my fellow countrymates to improve their English skills (for those who can't speak English fluently). - I'm not saying I can speak English fluently, but most of them I believe can't! ;)

I'm also willing to learn more on this thread, so please expect my presence here...


I often called people "Sir" because it is a formal and respectful term. Then I realized you got a point, so I would stop using that word inside here from now on!

English language is certainly not my native language. I am a Filipino and in some threads my fellowmen were always critisized about their crooked English statements.
I don't really have a problem with it because I can see why they were actually judged by many.
Even I have problems when it comes to letting others understand what I mean. I also need some advises and I am willing to learn from this thread.

I find only two reasons why people are accused of spamming and shitoosting.
Firstly, they lack knowldege. If they don't know what they are actually reading, then how could they answer and tell reviews about it.
Secondly, it's because they are not learning to speak english or even learn how to use it. It will not not be understandable in any way. If they could not understand a word in terms of economics then how could be expect them to say a single word about it. Terms in economics is very important to be on track.

Sorry for the grammar.
It will be a pleasure if you would correct my thoughts in sentences too.

"Sir" and it's use is an interesting topic. It is a shortened form of the middle English word "sire" which was used to address a Knight or Baronet. It came to be used as a mark of respect for a worthy gentleman. "Gentleman" is another interesting concept, originally it described a man who didn't indulge in trade ie. a landowner, diplomat, military officer, or other person with independent means. One of the English traditions is for a gentleman to have 4 buttons on the sleeve of his jacket, and a servant would have 3. It always amused me that people would pay thousand for an off the peg suit by some fancy name, and wear the badge of a servant on their sleeve.

These days everything seems to have changed, and the old Stock Exchange motto of " My word is my bond " seems to have become " My word, have you got that much money, I'll see how much of it I can take". Sir is still used as a mark of respect in some instances, but it seems to be more of a sales ploy these days. You flatter the mark into thinking he is superior to you. It's a bit like the dog who rolls over to display his vulnerable underbelly because he wants something. Give him a kick, and you will soon see how subserviant he is in reality. It's even worse with cats. :)

That's a long post just to say that I don't think that "sir" has a place in board posting.

You forget to write the third reason why peoples are accused for spamming and shitposting. Its all for the signature campaign!
Just imagine if is there no option to earn money through sig. campaign than how many users will post in this forum and how many users will be actively active here?

Peoples makes shitposts to increase their post count and then to rank up with a common goal to participate in sig. campaign.
On the other side, those users don't even understand how they are spamming & polluting the forum.


https://i.imgur.com/4unfdZC.png

If you use Grammarly Chrome extension then you can avoid those silly grammars and spelling mistakes.
Grammarly doesn't have 100% accuracy in my opinion but it is a very useful tool and can help you a lot.

There is an extension called Grammarly. It is really useful too improve your English if, like me, you're not an English-native-speaker. It makes automatical corrections to your grammar. I have only used the free one, despite they have a "premium membership" supposedly more accurate than the free one and with a lot of more applications.
Grammarly has helo me a lot, for instance with those typical mistakes, like the confusion I always have between "in" and "on".

I appreciate the review on my post and your advice to improve it.
Is it possible to use that grammarly chrome in a mobile phone ? I often don't have time using a laptop because I am currently in an On Job Training and it's kinda hard to always to keep my English straight without anyone having question marks floating in their minds :)
I will be determined more to improve myself because I can see that earlier adaptors like you are willing to help lower ranks like me.

this is a big problem for foreigner like me to post a new thread or post a comment in forum thread. if we use a google translate then we re-translate it, the meaning make us laugh to our self because we don't know the meaning although the post is ours. so the solution as i do, watch a english movie as much as possible. read a english book often and dont be shy to make a mistake when we learning. and please quote here how much i get a point with this post?? because i just type and search a word that i dont know the meaning, not a sentence. thank you

More than convinced Mr. JetCash!  :)



Hey mate, I think it is not possible to use grammar checker extension using mobile phones. But every mobile phones has a feature on keyboards that check spellings and grammars (not so sure about grammars) of every words you input. I just don't know if it can really help!  ;D

I think, I have a big problem with English's grammar to write some sentences in bitcointalk. It makes a message is not deliver correctly. I think some members did like me. I don't want to say that he/she is using bad English, but I felt hard to understand...

Thanks for your advice, i'll install that extension. I'm really stuck when using preposition in English, like "on, in, at", etc. It's great to have an app to help me with this problem! But why it can't identify your mistake which i marked red above  ;D ;D ;D

I'm not quite confident of my English grammar so I keep learning by reading sentence construction lesson online, that's one way of improving myself, second is I installed word counter in my PC so that everytime I type I could see the character and work frame and that's not all, it has application wherein it will get red line if it has a wrong grammar or missing word on it or unnecessary words added. I learned from it so when I do construct sentences in my cell phone I can see a little improvement for myself.

You need to be careful with services like Grammarly nd Google translate. There are so many subsets of English, that I'm not sure which one they use. I ran one of my paragraphs through Grammarly, and it came up with 4 errors, but I wasn't prepared to register with them to discover the errors. One was an alleged spelling mistake, but as they didn't appear to establish whether my paragraph was English or American, I assume they were using the incorrect American dictionary. Also, they didn't like my use of quotes, but I think they are essential to the interpretation of my paragraph.

I reran it, and it looks as if they don't like the use of double quotes. This seems to be a matter of personal preference, and subject to regional variatons. What is important is that the starting and ending quotation marks match, and that quotes within quotes use different pairs.

I do find every comments very helpful and will be willing enough to improve myself more. Maybe that will be up to my own determination regarding my own flaws. Appreciate efforts and suggestions, I will be opened for more knowledge that I could get here in you thread. I will be visiting this thread more often now and will expand my vocabulary too to avoid using words redundantly from now on.

Besides from wrong spelling, some people used inappropriate words to shorten their post. For example instead of using "You" they used "U". Understandable but inappropriate in English words. Also, I noticed some people didn't know how to use present tense and past tense and didn't even capitalised "I" for example "Hi im Silent26" which supposedly to be "Hi I'm Silent26". Hehe. English is not my first language but I always do my best when speaking english properly. English is my favorite subject since when I'm just a kid and I always used to be top 1 in my English subjects :) Though, there are still lot of things to learn and I'm still not that too good in English.

Edited. To avoid wrong spellings. I think we can use "Spelling Auto Correction" feature in our device's keyboards. What do you think OP? :)

Google translate is helpful but sometimes gives different meaning and sometimes makes me laugh to myself. must swap the language back to the right sentence.
The obstacles are mostly passive-speaking English, difficulty remembering vocabulary.

Just sometimes mere knowledge is not enough to explain what you really mean, wisdom played a role in this.

I'll give an example.

*Knowledge
Thought is responsible for every action we do in our life especially if we construct a constructive opinion in this community.
What is your name? you would think for a mili sec and remember your name it was 'thought'

*Wisdom
Emotion is more powerful than thought it is responsible in every decision in our life ultimately it is the main criteria why we like someone/something.

To put a summary about the idea
Jet Cash can talk to us while doing daily routine in life (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3096873.msg31974948#msg31974948) and I admit you need to put a lot of thought if you think about it, but Jet Cash have been doing it for a very long time, so generally speaking if your upbringing doesn't involve English language exposure it would take a lot of time if you just thought about English language all the time.

Maybe O.P can explain a better way how he handle things in his way.

I trnslated this text in Russian, and then translated it back. This is what I got with Google


I don't really like the changes, but Google managed a better job than I expected.

Indonesian wasn't quite as good

German also showed some variation.

I really don't like the way they have all changed "it looks as if" to "it looks like".

What I understand about google translation is it acts only as a guide to a better understanding. Though sometimes, it doesn't give an intelligible translation, we should not ignore the fact that it gives ideas about the certain language we aren't aware of. That is why if you notice translation campaigns, google translate is strongly prohibited to translate text needed to be translated (as always written in bounties). Not because of the reason "effortless" but the reason "accurate"!

And if google translate can do the job of a translator accurately, then translation campaigns would not exist.

Yeah, Google Translate is not 100% accurate, sometimes it gives wrong sentences and wrong grammars. Making a constructive English with our own words is much better than using Google translator. We can use Translators but for translating words only or if it's really necessary. Because translating a sentence in a translator didn't give 100% accurate result, except if we construct the result of translator to make it more constructive.

Is it better to study English without depending to any translators, reading dictionaries and English books should do the trick.

Saving this 3D on my list, my main problem with English are verbs, execially when the "ing" is involved!
Like keep playing, keeping play, keeping playing :D it's a nightmare.
Basically I watch TV series in English with Italian sub, this is the only moment when I can speak/ear English.

Good idea. I see the attempts made by some obviously knowledgeable posters and sometimes they can be difficult to understand; one of the problems with the written word as opposed to talking face to face when it is easier to determine what someone is trying to say. If I could speak/write any other language half as well as many non-native English speakers, I would be very happy.

Some tips I would suggest for those trying to improve. This will not help people who will still only post one line, non-informative posts, but hopefully point those who are looking to improve in the right direction. This post is not in any way intended to be condescending, just to (hopefully) improve the overall standards of posting in a second language.

1. Don't try and explain something in English that you can't already explain clearly in your own language.
2. If you are using technical phrases, look them up on a few language translation sites to check that they give the same answer.
3. If you are using google translate, check it backwards, i.e. put in your English language sentence and see if it makes sense when translated to your native language.
4. Don't run before you can walk. Longer posts can be more difficult to follow in general, and even worse, people will stop reading after the first sentence if they struggle to understand what you are trying to say.
5. Read lots, anywhere and everywhere, but especially on topics here which you are interested in or feel you can contribute. That way you will learn from the phrases used (without copy pasting) and quickly pick up how to format sentences and longer paragraphs in your chosen subject matter.
6. Don't post for the sake of it. If you are interested in a thread, but don't feel you can contribute just yet, put it on your watchlist and keep track that way.
7. If you are not confident posting on a thread, try practising elsewhere using a subject matter you are comfortable with. Writing about anything in English will improve your overall understanding of the way phrasing and sentence structure works. It won't be long before you improve.

Hope some of these pointers will help. All the best.

On another note, I am trying to learn Tagalog. Wish me luck.

-fixed by Grammarly

I'm using "Grammarly for Firefox" as an addon not only it does correct spelling but some grammar like tenses, prepositions, and others. hope this will help someone who had bad English like me.

if you see I edited this reply thanks to Grammarly

You're vs. your.

Lots of words in English are homonyms

 (hom·o·nym)
ˈhäməˌnim,ˈhōməˌnim/
noun
noun: homonym; plural noun: homonyms

    each of two or more words having the same spelling but different meanings and origins (e.g., pole1 and pole2); a homograph.
        each of two words having the same pronunciation but different meanings, origins, or spelling (e.g., to, too, and two); a homophone.

I'm sure this can drive someone crazy who is trying to learn English.  Some words will have several or more meanings.

For this short message I'll go over the difference between your and you're.  When someone uses the word 'your' they are denoting ownership.  For example, 'That donut is not my donut, it is your donut, or it's (a contraction of it and is) your donut.  One could also say, 'That's not my donut, it's yours.'

When one sees you're they're (they are) seeing  a contraction of the words you and are.  For example, 'You're going to get your nose punched if you eat my donut.'  Misspelling these two words is very common, even with native speakers but is pretty easy to remember.  All one has to do is keep in mind if you're (you are) addressing someone's item or something that belongs to them use your, and if you are using the shortened way of saying 'you are' then one uses the apostraphe (') to show that the word has been made into a contraction.

Hope that helps, it's funny how hard it is to try to explain something that is such a part of one, it reminds me of when I took my first computer class and the teacher couldn't (contraction of could and not) explain things as basically as he needed to, he'd (contraction of he and had)  been immersed in the subject so long that what seemed absolutely basic to him wasn't basic at all.

Actually "to" and "too" are not really homophones. It is bad enunciation that makes them so, as "too" should be slightly longer when spoken. Correct enunciation of the word "colour" will include the "u", although it may be difficult to detect.

The word "donut" is an unfortunate Americanism, and such diminution makes it harder to realise the origin and meaning of words. A "doughnut" is a small cake made by frying a lump of sweetened dough.

Soory, I'm not someone who mastered English well. And I need to learn more.
But I was curious, Maybe the answer could be different from every region or country.
Are there some specific vocabulary that differentiates when we are confronted in different situations? Such as when speaking in an official situation such as this forum and when speaking in a relaxed time.
And please correct me also the compilation of this word.  :D . Thanks

I think the first initiative to learn English is to understand and memorise the structure of sentences with tense. Then learn  at least 200 action wards used in our daily life. I hope you will be able to use thousands of sentences with this .

I think that the Internet has changed communications a lot. We have also had a run of Unicorn politicians who have been sucking money away from the middle classes, and many of the richer families who were not part of the elite. We used to have quite a complex social structure in England. For example, you could insult someone by asking them if they were reading for a PhD - the implication being that they were not suitable for Oxford or Cambridge, where it is called a D Phil. I think a lot of that has changed, and quite a few people seem to feel guilt about their backgrounds. The removal of grammar schools also polarised education in England, and disadvantaged many of the poorer people. It also reduced the number of engineering and science students.

You really have to have been brought up in England to understand all of the subtle nuances that form a part of social interaction here. You don't need that for fluid communication in the forum, but sometimes comments seem to slip into posts, and may not make sense to some readers.

btw. The Unicorn is a rather nasty creature that was created by man to lead free spirited wild horses into captivity. It isn't some fairy my little pony spraying magic dust over everything.

I think if you see posts does that not have a good grammar. Just ignore it rather than insult it. And as for those who say that they should just be helped. I think they have to find their own way to learn english better. Like reading english books while having a dictionary and watching english movies with their language subtitles. Ain't that helpful?

While that may be true in Great Britian I can assure you that here in the states to, too, and two all sound identical when used in conversation.

Regarding the above mentioned words, two of course is the pronunciation of the letter 2.  Too is used to indicate an excess such as 'I had too much to eat last night' or 'I was driving too fast and almost crashed!'

To is a bit more difficult to easily outline so I'll go to the dictionary for some help with its definition.

to
to͞o,tə/
preposition
preposition: to

    1.
    expressing motion in the direction of (a particular location).
    "walking down to the mall"
        expressing location, typically in relation to a specified point of reference.
        "forty miles to the south of the site"
        expressing a point reached at the end of a range or after a period of time.
        "a drop in profits from $105 million to around $75 million"
        (in telling the time) before (the hour specified).
        "it's five to ten"
        approaching or reaching (a particular condition).
        "Christopher's expression changed from amazement to joy"
        expressing the result of a process or action.
        "smashed to smithereens"
    2.
    identifying the person or thing affected.
    "you were terribly unkind to her"
        identifying the recipient or intended recipient of something.
        "he wrote a heart-rending letter to the parents"
    3.
    identifying a particular relationship between one person and another.
    "he is married to Jan's cousin"
        in various phrases indicating how something is related to something else (often followed by a noun without a determiner).
        "made to order"
        indicating a rate of return on something, e.g., the distance traveled in exchange for fuel used, or an exchange rate that can be obtained in one currency for another.
        "it only does ten miles to the gallon"
        Mathematics
        indicating the power (exponent) to which a number is raised.
        "ten to the minus thirty-three"
    4.
    indicating that two things are attached.
    "he had left his bike chained to a fence"
    5.
    concerning or likely to concern (something, especially something abstract).
    "a threat to world peace"
    6.
    governing a phrase expressing someone's reaction to something.
    "to her astonishment, he smiled"
    7.
    used to introduce the second element in a comparison.
    "it's nothing to what it once was"

infinitive marker
to: to

    1.
    used with the base form of a verb to indicate that the verb is in the infinitive, in particular.
        expressing purpose or intention.
        "I set out to buy food"
        expressing an outcome, result, or consequence.
        "he was left to die"
        expressing a cause.
        "I'm sorry to hear that"
        indicating a desired or advisable action.
        "I'd love to go to France this summer"
        indicating a proposition that is known, believed, or reported about a specified person or thing.
        "a house that people believed to be haunted"
        forming a future tense with reference to the immediate future.
        "he was about to sing"
        after a noun, indicating its function or purpose.
        "a chair to sit on"
        after a phrase containing an ordinal number.
        "the first person to arrive"
    2.
    used without a verb following when the missing verb is clearly understood.
    "he asked her to come but she said she didn't want to"

Regarding the use of 'Americanisms' as I'm an American that is only to be expected.  Our country is famous for integrating words from the entire world and Americanizing them.  With our huge melting pot of millions of people from every conceivable part of the planet living here and becoming part of the American dream it's only natural that we absorb, digest, and I guess in your opinion, mutilate many words. So be it, we're basically the Borg of the written and spoken word.  Of course we owe our written and spoken heritage to the Anglo Saxon roots of our culture, nourished in the mother country which many of us still hold close to our hearts.

P.S.  In the United States we don't write colour, we write color and pronounce it just as it's written, that's the case with many words that in English English end in our, usually not the case here.

I suppose that my point really is that modifications and subset restrictions around the world make the learning and spelling of English harder. The sibilant "ass" derived I assume from "arse" can cause confusion if a person thinks of an ass as a fool or donkey like animal. There are many variations of English from Ugandan to the French based Canadian, and many of them are found on the internet. It is unfortunate that English is losing some of its richness and subtlety as American becomes ubiquitous.

Just for the record,to all readers:
If your english isn't that good, but your main language is Turkish or German, I would love to help you with a translation, for free of course ! :)
So as long as you dont have a whole whitepaper to get translated I offer you my help ! :)

Btw, to the thread moderator: very good idea ! :)

I honestly don't think it's wrong to use the help of Google Translate to post as long as that person understand basic English.  I think most non-native speakers understand when they're reading English, but they may have a hard time trying to put their thoughts in English.  So they could actually start to write in their native language, then use Google translate, and then go back and fix some of the errors.

I think the most important thing for anyone to do who wants to get better at using English is to listen to it as much as possible, try to use it whenever possible and don't worry (too much) about making errors, just try to learn from them.  For learning how to get better at writing it, take classes and/or read as much material in English.  It's amazing how much information will go into your sub conscious by doing that, almost like osmosis in a way.

Also take advantage of all the software that is available to help, try to find someone who's better at English than you to go over what you're doing wrong.

I'm gonna be honest, I have been using the English language every day for a few years now, three or so, but I still find myself worried about my spelling and especially my vocabulary, I believe there are many people like me who just learned the idiom by pure practice and use, no courses and other sorts of formal training.
What are the mistakes you often see around here regarding grammar and general knowledge? I'm going to keep them in mind so I don't repeat when posting. Any other advice you could give is welcome.

One thing I notice a lot, and this was the case also when I had my Asian helper who is from Taiwan, and that is many times the use of 'the' in connection with a noun.   Looking at google it says the is an article

  "The word "the" is one of the most common words in English. It is our only definite article. Nouns in English are preceded by the definite article when the speaker believes that the listener already knows what he is referring to."

Here's a few examples of what I'm talking about.  Instead of saying or writing 'I went to the store' I see or hear 'I went store'

'I was writing the report' versus 'I was writing report'   'Let's (contraction of Let us) go to the beach' versus 'Let's go beach'. 

I think the reason for this is many languages have a different way of structuring sentences and don't use the article 'the' and that is ingrained into one's brain. 

To remedy this I think it takes doing a lot of reading and listening and time.  I hope this helps.

There is a good site that will help non-native speakers https://languagetool.org

Did you men this post?


I would have said -

I'm using "Grammarly for Firefox" as an addon, not only it does correct spelling, but some grammar such as tenses, prepositions, and others. I hope this will help someone who has bad English like me.

As you can see, I edited this reply thanks to Grammarly.

Punctuation is not my strongest point, so you may need a second opinion on my post. :)

But this in an English language thread.

I realize that my English can't be said to good enough, because English is not my primary language, but i tried my best to improve it day by day.
The things that i do to improve my English :
1. Listen to a music/song , try to sing it, and translate it to my native language so i can know the meaning of that song's lyric.
2. Watching movies with my native language subtitle , but i tried to not looking to the subtitle, focused to the movie and the sound, and when i don't know  the meaning of they talking about, then i look to the subtitle.
3. Chatting with someone that can used English so well or correctly, even i'm not sure if they can understand my bad english, but i oftenly said "please correct my english if something is not correct"

What do you think about it? Do you have any other ways to improve English language?

Great Idea for a thread!

I want to improve my English as well, let alone grammar and punctuation ;D

Learning by doing is the best way for me, but maybe others are more into observing/reading...

Also, a good way to improve your English (in my personal opinion), is to use apps like Memrise or Duolingo.


And don't forget, everything you learn gives you another advantage in your life.
So keep learning every day, it's worth it.



 

I wonder who put negative comments on those whose control of the English language is sub-par.  I really don't think we should be picking on those who's first language in not English.  We should be understandable and help them instead.

As a non-English native, I have found that the best ways of improving one's English is a simple but uneasy trick, which is to write and speak it as often as you would like to get better at it

So true, also to not be concerned (too much) about making mistakes when talking or for that matter, when writing.  It's be repetition that one will improve.  Also it's a good idea to try and immerse oneself in English by listening to English speaking radio, reading articles written by native English speakers and watching vids with native English speakers. 

The more one immerses themselves in it the better one will become.

Do you mean negative trust comments or comments in a thread? I think that we shouldn't use trust to rate people's language skills.
Commenting in a thread can be explained. Imagine that you want to read a thread and find yourself scrolling through posts that are unreadable. All you can get out of them is Bitcoin ***** Bitcoin **** me like**** good Bitcoin. And all this when there's google translate and your local subforum. Some people have to either put minimum effort into their posts, or use the appropriate local sections.



Of course, since it's no longer allowing shitposters to rank up and you're not even trying to hide that it was your main reason for registering.

Making sure you're understood is more important than having perfect English. But sometimes the mistakes/oversights just get in the way of a clear meaning. I'm sure people would just ask for clarification then, no?

Just to put things in perspective -

Suppose a group of four English speaking people are having a discussion about cars, and a fifth person forces himself into the conversation with almost non-existent English skills. He demands to know how he can claim free money from the government to buy a car without working for it. This money will have been taken from the taxation paid by the English speakers.

It's starting to feel as if this is the approach taken by many new members ( but not all ), and some of us are starting to resent it. Their interference in the conversations on the boards is spoiling it for those of us with a primary interest in Bitcoin.

Hi, firstly thank you for helping those in need, I believe I am among them. I'm trying to get more quality posts, so I can rank up. I read the forum as much as I can to learn. I know that beside understanding technical matters, language and expression are also very important to attract readers. I must confess, I use translation tools regularly, to help me with spelling. Can you please tell me what should I fix? Maybe you could also check some of my posts if it isn't too much to ask?

It would mean a lot to me, thank you.

So, here's what I did to one of your posts. It's not perfect, but I wanted to leave as much of the original as possible. Your posts are good, much better than what the children of today are writing on social media. You have enough skills and knowledge to self improve, just keep using the language and you'll get better. Those minor mistakes will start disappearing, you'll see. :)

I am also noob in English language, But try to improve my skill.
Create a fb group where me and my friend talk in English language.
It's really helpful for me and all of us.

Well this is really helpful for me
When I was started in bitcoin I'm reading book
Titled 'speaking naturally' communication skills in american english.

Highly appreciate the topic author, Jet Cash, for creating this helpful one. However, I think that threads composed proficiently in English are good, but not enough to be constructive, high-quality, and helpful. Why? The main reason is helpful threads have to be published in-context appropriately to be really helpful. Threads can not be considered as helpful if the topic questions had been answered somewhere before.

Criticisms and negative comments for a non-native speaker like me, helps me motivate to improve my english.I don't believe in a saying , "No one is good at something". I know for a fact that learning an English language is indeed not an easy task but if there is a will, there is a way. That is why, to be able to catch up things in the forum, I have read english articles, news, reading and surfing websites that provide an information about bitcoin as cryptocurrency. Since then, my interests in bitcoin grow deeper because I can see bitcoin is an advanced technology that may change the way our economy  performed.

Thanks for bumping this. I backed away from maintaining this thread because it was going odd topic. It was intended to be a practice thread, but most of the posts seemed to be about using transaltion services, nd other sites. I set up a small forum for people with a genuine interest in improving their English, and you can find it here -
Fit to Talk English (http://fittotalk.com/english-talk/index.php)

It is only for members of Bitcoin Talk, and you will need to use your BT name for me to verify this. You will also need to have made at least 5 posts in this forum. This is to avoid an influx of spammers. Please note, you cannot use a signature, and you cannpt promote bounties or air drops via that forum. It is not an alternative to Bitcoin Talk, so you will need to continue to use this forum to improve your crypto knowledge.

You wan't earn any merits through the forum, but you will improve your posting skills, and this helps the Bitcoin Talk forum.

What about a conversation topic? Any plans? I feel that the greatest problem is talking in English, we could set up skype talks with pre-set topics that are crypto-based!

Did you look at the site? Thereis one there that nobody seems to use.

You raised a sick topic for many forum participants. And I had a desire to write.
I'm still beginning on Bitcointalk, but I've already heard about those who put negatives behind the "wrong" English. Sometimes I want to write, but there are fears that someone will put a negative.
I'm writing unfortunately with the help of Google translator. I understand English, but to say and write for me is a problem. I read the thread and I will follow all the tips to improve my English.

P.S. Thank you for your tolerance and understanding to us) And thanks for the topic! ;)

Why don't you join 'Fit to Talk'? There is no chance that you will get any 'negatives' there, as the whole point of the site is to help you to avoid adverse comments by offering constructive help. If's not a part of Bitcoin Talk either, so you needn't be frightened that anything you do there will affect your account here. In fact, I suspect that some of the senior members may be viewing threads there to see which of the new members has a genuine interest in becoming a valuable contributor to this forum.

I learned most of my English growing up by watching Looney Tunes and Animaniacs with subtitles. Also listening to music helped me a lot. English was by far the easiest subject in school.

Thank you for bumping this old thread. Fit to Talk is still alive, but I haven't spent as much time as I should have on the boards, and I apologise for this. The Fit to Talk English translation project is still open, and I guarantee at least 10 merits for anyone who creates a new topic to be used to start a thread here in Bitcoin Talk. The topic will need to be about local politics, or Bitcoin, or the use of crypto currencies in your country. Don't worry about not having very good English, we will work with you to create a good opening post, and you will get the credit. The topic needs to be original and a good quality topic, as we do not support plagiarism.

challenge accepted I picked "the use of crypto currencies in your country" here's the link: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5138236

Exactly, we should improve our English, if we want to do success in life. It is not talk about only working in this forum, we should learn English, because it is international language.
In all over the world English is only one language that everyone know about it. If we can't speak english than we can't survive in other country.

I started watching Hollywood movies with subtitles, it helps a lot.

Previously, I used to watch those movies dubbed in my native tongue, believe it or not, when you watch dubbed it loses bit of meaning which it's original version had.

Oh, I probably went off topic. Anyway, I meant, watch English movies with subtitles, if you want to improve your English — you will improve your vocabulary, you will be automatically able to frame sentences and also don't stop if what character says goes over your head, it'll improve over time.